Snickerdoodles

I was trolling through the baking bites website again (I really have to stop that soon -- too many temptations!) and I found this recipe. I haven't had a snickerdoodle in a very long time, and I have never made them before. The cookies dough was a little dry, so I had some problems getting them to form into balls, but luckily there was no need to be particularly gentle with the dough. Baking Bites credits this recipe to allrecipes and commented that this recipe had over 1,000 positive reviews which sounded promising to her and equally good to me. She also called snickerdoodles the "single least offensive cookie that there is" which is pretty amusing. But I see her point, who doesn't like a cinnamon sugar cookie that isn't horribly sweet?

The cookies were a little crisper than I like, but I like very soft cookies. I baked the first set for 8 minutes, but actually baked the next two batches for only 7 minutes. They weren't overdone at 8 minutes, just crisper than I liked, although I suppose other people prefer crisp cookies. Baking bites comments that she prefers her cookies crisp and so bakes her on the high end of the range (10 minutes.) To each their own...

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup shortening (I used butter-flavored), soft
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I used silmats)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream together butter and shortening, gradually adding the sugar until mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually mix in the flour at low speed until dough is formed.

In a small bowl combine cinnamon and sugar. Roll 1-inch balls of dough in the mixture and place on baking sheet. Cookies will spread, so leave about 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set.

Remove to a wire cooling rack immediately. Store in an airtight container when cool.